Thanksgivings Day greatings to all.
I have a lot to be thankful for this year, starting with Snarkykat, Scout, and Chloe (Chloe just snuggled up next to me). I, also, have a large cohort of friends and family that although we share significant political differences, I (for the most part) like them all and enjoy their company.
I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks the the men and women that have (are, and will) sacraficed time with their friends and family to serve this country doing increadibly difficult work in far off locales.
Gregoire is not going to accept the recount. Her justification is not her own interest but that “every vote must be counted”. She just approximately said, “We’ve decided that every vote must be counted, but we haven’t decided if they will pay for a hand recount in the entire state or a partial recount in selected areas.” How is a partial recount “counting every vote”?
What a hypocrite.
Chloe considering the most important thing in her life — food.
Wow, what a squeaker. The Washington Governor’s race finally has an official result:
Dino Rossi (R): 1,371,414
Christine Gregoire (D): 1,371,153
Ruth Bennett (L): 63,346
Of course, since the difference between the leading candidats is less than 2000 votes there will be a recount. The only saving grace is that Rossi’s lead is greater than 150 votes so the recount does not have to be by hand. Since a recount has never changed the result in a statewide election, Rossi is now very likely to be Washington’s next Governor — the first Republican in 20 years.
Wow…
The Rossi/Gregoire race is now even closer. Rossi leads Gregoire 1,367,365 to 1,367,46. That’s a 19 vote difference. Damn….
Wow. Dino Rossi only has a 33 vote lead over Chris(tine) Gregoire out of nearly 2.8 million.
The election needs to be finalized tomorrow, but then the recounting may start. If the difference is less than 2000 votes there is an automatic recount. If the difference is less than 150 votes the recount must be by hand, unless both candidates agree to an alternate means. We may not know who our next Governor is for quite a while.
Seanbaby’s EGM’s Crapstravaganza: The 20 Worst Video Games of All Time has been around for a few years but it is so funny it we need to be reminded occasionally. Warning: This is so funny that you might not want to read it at work, because your boss will wonder why tears are streaming down your face and you are making strangling noises.
Also don’t miss The 20 Worst Nintendo NES Games
While I’m quite sure that many, if not most, Europeans think there is something wrong with the US because of the re-election of George Bush. But Europe has some serious issues.
First, in Belgium the far-right ‘Vlaams Blok’ party has been judged racist. While, the party certainly seems to have taken racist positions, what is distrubing is that this ruling forces the party to “officially” disband. Apparantly in Belgium, there is no freedom of speech for opinions that are not approved by the government.
Second, in the Netherlands “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is racist and banned.
In the Netherlands, artist Chris Ripke reacted to the murder on Theo Van Gogh by an islamic fundamentalist by painting a mural with the text “Gij zult niet doden” (”Thou Shalt Not Kill”), one of the ten commandments of the Christian religion. But because the head of the nearby mosque complained to the police that this was ‘offensive’ and ‘racist’, the cops came and sent in city workers to sandblast the mural. A local journalist, Wim Nottroth, who wanted to protest against this by standing in front of the mural was arrested.
Right….
Third is an email that Andrew Sullivan received from a friend observing the anniversary of Kristallnacht in Norway.
This evening in Oslo there was a march commemorating Kristallnacht. According to TV2 News, no Norwegian Jews were present. The authorities, saying that they did not want any trouble, forbade any Jewish symbols, including Stars of David and Israeli flags. On the TV2 evening news, a group of Jews and their friends who wanted to take part in the commemoration were shown being firmly told by a policeman to “please leave the area.” This in a city where Muslim demonstrations take place on a regular basis, and include signs and banners bearing hateful, barbaric slogans.
What the fuck? So Jews aren’t allowed to march in the memory of a crime against Jews, because the might be attacked. Shouldn’t the police be arresting any potential attackers rather than harrasing innocents wishing to express themselves peacefully?
Jon over at Getting Better All the Time has a Strategy Manifesto for the Dems. I added my comments. An excerpt:
I agree that Dems don’t need to become neo-Republicans to win. Most of these points are just technical issues that might win the Presidency, but the Dems problem is systemic. Since 1964 only one Democrat has won a majority of the popular vote for President — Jimmy Carter — and he won a smaller % than Bush just managed. Democrats used to dominate the Senate and House, but it is looking more like they will be the minority for a long time.
In 2002, when the Dems were spanked, the polls said definitively that people didn’t believe the Democrats didn’t stand for anything. Unfortunately the Party took this to mean that they should be more outspoken in opposition to the Repubicans. This was a complete misread, IMHO.
Democrats need to be FOR something…
What the Democrats need is a “Contract with America” — an affirmative plan of action.
Go there to comment.